When Sewer Line Inspection May Be The Best Option To Diagnose Issues In The Line
The sewer line that carries waste from the drains in your home to the city sewer system or your septic system can get clogged or damaged and cause issues in your home. Clearing the line can be difficult if you are not sure where the blockage is, but there is a solution that can make the process easier.
Sewer Line Inspection
If your sewer line is not flowing correctly, the line may be damaged or there may be an obstruction inside the line. Traditionally, damage like this meant digging up the line to inspect it. The process often left the yard torn up and made a mess.
Video sewer inspection resolves that issue by doing the inspection from inside the pipe, so your contractor does not need to dig the line up unless there is damage to it. The camera can be inserted into the pipe from the sewer cleanout and then advanced through the system to determine if there is an issue and where the problem is along the line.
The camera can pinpoint the location along the pipe, so if the line needs to be excavated, the contractor can start over the damaged pipe and only dig enough to make the repairs instead of exposing the entire line from the house to the street. Digging up the entire line can cause the soil to be less stable after it is backfilled, and it can settle, leaving a low spot in the yard.
Blockages Inside The Home
If the problem is in the house, not the line outside, the camera can be used in the main sewer line as well. Often it is easier to work down from the drains inside the house for a blockage inside, but there might be a reason to go in from the cleanout in some situations.
Often the video sewer inspection is completed on the sewer line as far as possible, but if there are tight bends in the line, they can sometimes stop the camera progress. The inspector running the camera has a small video monitor that will display the feed from the camera so they can look carefully at the pipe, the joints or connections, and anything found inside the pipe that they encounter.
When a blockage or problem is found inside the pipe, the camera feed will display a measurement that allows the inspector to locate the exact spot that the camera is in so that the pipe can be worked and cut or opened in that precise spot where the problem is located. This can make cleaning out a stubborn blockage much easier and more effective than rooting around inside the pipe with an auger to try and break up something you can't see.